


Onbewus

by sarsmiles



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/F, Light Angst, Minor Violence, Post-Canon, Romance, Sam is bemused and Sully is entertained, Slow Burn, mentions of past relationships - Freeform, not as angsty as the summary makes it sound, they're both oblivious assholes like jesus christ
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 21:09:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14962224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarsmiles/pseuds/sarsmiles
Summary: Nadine has trust issues. Chloe doesn’t know how to be honest with anyone, herself least of all.





	Onbewus

 

**I**

 

Chloe imagines her father standing beside her, smiling softly and _proudly_ , as she hands over the tusk to a shocked ministry official.  
It hits her hard and heavy in a way that Asav’s punches had not.

It isn’t until they exit back out onto the streets that Nadine’s shoulder nudging hers brings her out of it. “So where do you want to go next?”

Chloe thinks that maybe Nadine knows her a little _too_ well.

“I have a promise to keep,” she replies, flashing Nadine a large grin. Nadine just shakes her head in return. 

_Far_ too well, Chloe thinks again.

Meenu cheers when she spots them rounding the market corner. Chloe waves at her, a genuine smile rising to cross her face.

“So you dropped it off?” she asks excitedly. “What did they say?”

“It matters less what they say and more what they pay,” Chloe responds. 

Nadine snorts next to her.

Meenu doesn’t look fooled either, and Chloe wonders when she suddenly let her guard down enough to have all these people see right through her.

“ _Anyway,”_ she says, dragging the word out in a vain attempt to distract from her dishonesty. “I wanted to give you your cut of the pay.”

“My cut?” Meenu’s eyebrows furrow.

“Yeah. Without your help, I would’ve never made it to meet with Nadine in the first place. So you deserve a cut of the profits.”

Chloe has already set aside a portion of her pay, not wanting to shortchange Sam or Nadine—neither of who had agreed to give money to Meenu. She hands this portion, wrapped safely in a tightly bound pouch, to the girl.

Meenu clutches at it, moving to open the top to peer inside, but Chloe stops her. “You should wait and open this alone and away from others. Okay?”

Meenu nods, for once saying nothing.

Chloe understands the gratitude anyway. She can feel Nadine’s eyes boring into her, but the mercenary stays mercifully silent.

They say their goodbyes, and leave. Chloe waves over her shoulder several times, as Meenu’s form grows smaller in the distance.

“How much did you give her?” Nadine asks once she disappears from view. 

“Does it matter?”

“I suppose not.” Nadine hums. “Does she remind you of yourself?”

Chloe doesn’t know quite what to do with the large and sudden amounts of introspection and extrospection she’s subjected herself to over the last couple weeks. She really doesn’t want to have to deal with Nadine being able to do the same.

“No,” Chloe drawls. “She just deserved a part of the cut like I said. She distracted the rebels so I could smuggle myself to you.”

“Ah. Makes sense.” Nadine says it so flatly that Chloe wants to glare at her.

Instead she forces a smirk. “If you want to maybe compensate me a bit for that—“

“Not a chance,” Nadine laughs.

Chloe laughs in return, irritation disappearing to be replaced with warmth.

“So what’s next?” Nadine asks.

“Well I did have some ideas.”

“I’ll follow your lead.” Nadine smiles and Chloe smiles back, stomach fluttering strangely.

Maybe that leftover pizza from earlier has given her food poisoning.

 

**II**

 

Most of the ideas are dead ends. Eventually Sam contacts them over a map hidden within a painting that could lead to some lost treasure. Same old, same old. It’s only once they’re on board to join that he tells them about the auction. 

Chloe agrees immediately.

Nadine does not. Instead she stands and exits the room, leaving Chloe on the phone alone with a contrite Samuel Drake. 

“I figured she’d react like that,” he tells Chloe awkwardly, voice echoing from the speaker to bounce around the small apartment that they had been staying in for the past week. Chloe prefers hotels, but Nadine had insisted that Airbnb was better for longer stays.

“I’ll call you back,” Chloe sighs and hangs up before Sam can answer.

She finds Nadine standing on her bedroom’s tiny balcony. Even though it is night, Paris lights the skyline. It illuminate Nadine’s outline, rigid with anger. Chloe pauses to examine her. It’s hard to get a moment to really _look_ at Nadine. The other woman is always moving, always alert, and always aware of when Chloe is looking. She’s wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. It had shocked Chloe the first time she’d seen Nadine wearing something so casual. Even now it seems out of place. Her hair is up in a ponytail. The t-shirt is too small. It’s tight, almost sinfully so. Or maybe it seems that way because of her muscles?

Chloe forces it from her mind before she can spend too much time thinking about it, and steps out onto the balcony with her.

The only acknowledgement she gets is when Nadine moves over slightly to make room for her, the terrace barely large enough to fit them both.

Chloe wants to wait for Nadine to speak first, but she knows that would mean standing in uncomfortable silence for far too long. Besides, she’s the talker in this partnership. It’s her job to get the ball rolling. “Since I know you don’t really mind Sam anymore, I’m guessing there’s some other issue with his plan?”

Nadine scoffs. It’s an ugly sound, laced with bitterness.

“I’m taking that as a yes.”

Nadine just continues to glare at nothing in the distance. “I met the Drakes at the last auction I attended.”

Chloe winces. “Oh. So the mission one with the trust-fund brat.”

“Yes. Rafe.”

At the sound of his name, a heavy and painful lump forms in Chloe’s chest. She ignores it. “It’ll be different, china. You’ve got me.”

Nadine’s rigidity softens slightly. She glances at Chloe with a strange look in her eyes. “It’s not you I’m worried about.”

Chloe wishes she could believe that. “A Drake is on our side this time. We’ll get dolled up, drink some champagne, create a distraction. And in the end we’ll find the Treasure of Lima and walk away several times richer. It’ll be fun.”

“I think you and I have a very different definition for _fun.”_

“I don’t think we do,” Chloe says. “Not really.”

Nadine sighs, and the tension finally fully leaves her frame. “Fine, Frazer. You win.”

“ _Ouch._ Frazer? We’re bringing out the formalities now?” Chloe laughs softly. The lump grows larger. She wonders if she’s getting some type of heartburn. “Look, china. If you don’t want to do this then just say the word. We can find something else.”

Nadine looks at her finally, gaze heavy. Chloe looks back, unable to tear her eyes away. She wonders when Nadine got so close.

“Lima, huh?”

Chloe blinks and brightens, sensing victory. “Well that’s where the treasure was originally from. Before it was reportedly buried in Costa Rica.”

“I’ve never been to South America before.”

“You’ll _love_ the wildlife. After we find the treasure, we could make a detour by the Galapagos? They have nine unique species. And giant tortoises.”

“I do like tortoises,” Nadine admits, turning to lean against the railing and stare back out at Paris.

Chloe watches her with a smile.

The heartburn had disappeared.

 

**III**

 

It doesn’t take much to book a flight from France to Italy, and it takes even less to find a tiny bed and breakfast to bunk in. Sam meets them there in a smart black tuxedo, eyebrow raised as he surveys their room. 

“What?” Chloe asks. “Is there something wrong with the room?”

Sam lets out a short bark of a laugh. “No, no. Nothing’s wrong. Just—have you guys run out of money or something?”

“No?” Chloe says. “What? Our lodgings not up to your princely standards?”

“No—just—never mind.”

“He lived in a prison cell for fifteen years. How ‘princely’ can his standards be?” Nadine asks, appearing from the bathroom now fully dressed for their evening heist.

“Lovely as ever, Nadine,” Sam says, tone sardonic but not as biting as it once had been. As much as they like to pretend otherwise, Sam and Nadine have built a grudging friendship. Normally, Chloe would have pointed this out to make them both uncomfortable. Instead, she stares.

Nadine has dressed in black dress pants and a sleeveless purple top with a deep vee. Her hair is down, framing her face like a halo.

“What?” Nadine asks her, tone defensive as she notices Chloe looking.

“You look fantastic, love,” Chloe replies truthfully. She feels a stab of triumph as Nadine blushes. 

“Uh—I’ll give you guys some privacy,” Sam says with a strangely high pitched voice before disappearing back out the door. 

Chloe turns to watch him go. “What’s up with him today?”

“No clue,” Nadine says. “It’s your turn to get ready. You need to hurry.”

“Don’t I always?”

“No.”

Chloe gets dressed quickly. She has already procured just the dress for the occasion. She leaves her hair down, a rarity, but she thinks that Nadine will like it that way. When Chloe finally exits the bathroom, Nadine is lounging on a chair in the corner with her legs crossed, scrolling though her phone. She looks up and freezes, eyes wide. 

“See something you like, china?” Chloe asks with a grin, cocking one hip. “What do you think?”

Nadine blinks. “Really? Red?”

Chloe glances down at her dress. “It’s my color.”

Nadine scoffs and stands, cheeks slightly darkened. “You’re as tactically-minded as ever.”

“Shush. You like this color on me.”

“We need to go get Sam.”

Chloe sighs, disappointed by the lack of a reaction. “Let’s go get him then. Make sure to lock the door on the way out.”

 

After much finagling, the trio finally find themselves safely within the Rossi Estate. Sam disappears off to meet with some acquaintance that Chloe strongly suspects is Sully, because when doesn’t that old man appear? She taps the headset nestled firmly within her ear. “Sam. Make sure not to wonder too far.”

“Don’t worry.” His voice crackles in her ear. “I won’t mess this up.”

“Doubtful,” Nadine sneers, tone bitter. 

Nadine had gotten tenser and tenser the closer they’d gotten to the villa. Now she could practically be mistaken for a statue, face furrowed with a deep scowl. Despite her assurances that she has worked out the issues from her job with Rafe, Chloe knows she really has not. So in an attempt to distract from the familiarity of the situation, she drags Nadine to the bar nestled in the corner.

“I don’t want a drink, Frazer.”

Chloe ignores how the use of her last name stings, and instead turns to flash the bartender with a cheeky grin. “Two shots—preferably tequila, please.”

The bartender’s—a young man with dark black hair and blue eyes—responding smile suddenly dies as his eyes drift over her shoulder. He hurries away to make their drinks, and Chloe turns with a sigh. 

“Nadine, love, you’re scaring the help.”

“I told you I didn’t want a drink.”

“And I ignored you.”

Nadine’s harsh gaze, fixated still on the poor bartender, darkens.

Chloe reaches out to rest a hand on Nadine’s forearm where it has come to lie on the bar. “Nadine. You’re going a bit _not-cool_ on me here. I thought you said you’d be okay?”

“I’m okay,” Nadine grits, obviously not okay. “I’m cool. I’m cool as ice.”

The bartender returns with the shots, placing them down quickly on the counter before fleeing to the other end of the bar.

“I said it before, I’ll say it again. If you want to leave, bail on the mission, we can. Okay?”

Nadine doesn’t look at her, but her gaze and posture soften slightly. “I’m okay.”

“Then take this shot with me.” Chloe removes her hand from Nadine’s forearm to offer her the shot.

Nadine takes it slowly. “Only this one.”

“Only this one,” Chloe agrees. “Gotta keep our head in the game, right? Bottoms up.”

They take the shot together. It burns, but Chloe is used to harder liquor. As is Nadine Chloe judges, watching the smooth way she downs her shot, expression unchanging.

“I’m going to do some recon,” Nadine says, placing the glass back down on the bar with a too-hard thunk. 

“Am I not exciting enough company?” Chloe asks.

Nadine doesn’t answer before stalking off. 

“Don’t cross Ross, eh?” Chloe mutters to herself, turning to motion to the bartender to order another drink. Sam slides into place beside her smoothly.

“Trouble in paradise?” he asks, the cigar hanging out of his mouth somehow defying gravity as he speaks.

“Apparently being in the same estate with the same man that helped destroy your company and ruined your fortune can make one testy,” she remarks blandly. “How was your mysterious friend?”

“My mysterious friend is fine,” Sam says. “And that wasn’t what I meant.”

“What did you mean then?” She grabs the Negroni that the bartender slides in front of her and takes a sip.

“Well… it doesn’t matter.” Sam scratches the back of his neck in an uncharacteristic display of awkwardness. “So you guys are sharing a bed now?”

“What are you— wait. Is that why you were being so weird about the room earlier?”

“Yeah,” he drawls, dragging the word out for an irritatingly long time. “I have to say, I didn’t expect you two of all people—“

“Sam. I totally understand you imagining Nadine and I having very hot sex together. Because we would be mind-blowingly hot, it’s true.” Chloe laughs. “But we’re sharing a room because it was meant to have double beds, and they booked a single king. We were too lazy to change it.”

“Oh,” Sam says, taking a drag of his cigar. “Right.”

He doesn’t seem convinced.

Chloe feels unsettled suddenly. Too vulnerable. She drains the rest of her drink. “You want to dance?” she asks, nodding towards the slice of floor that had been set aside for music where couples were dancing together.

“Why’d they even bring a band?” Sam asks. “It’s a black market auction, not a ball.” 

“How could we ever begin to understand the fabulously wealthy?” Chloe replies airily.

Sam puts down his cigar, and follows her to the dance floor. He’s a bumbling dancing partner, but he allows her to take the lead as soon as they settle into position so she can’t complain too much.

“Did you find out when the painting goes up for auction?” she asks once they’re in rhythm, circling the floor mindlessly.

“In about another hour. It’s the fifth item out of twenty-seven.”

“I’m oh so grateful it’s not twenty-seven. We’d be here forever.”

Sam rolls his eyes. 

Their plan has been recycled slightly from the previous estate invasion. Cause a distraction, grab the painting—although this time they are replacing it with a replica. Chloe is to be the one to make the swap, sneaking into vault where all of the merchandise is being held in wait until they are taken to the podium.

“Do you got the goods?”

Chloe shifts, bringing her thighs together slightly to feel the rub of the leather tube strapped to her inner thigh. “I got the goods.”

“Great,” Sam says then curses when he steps on her foot. “Sorry. Shit—sorry. I was never good at this type of thing. Where’d Nadine go again?”

“I’m here.” Nadine’s voice suddenly cuts in from their left, taking them both by surprise. “And it’s my turn.”

Before Sam can say anything, she’s slipping between him and Chloe, placing both of her hands on Chloe’s waist, forcing Chloe to wrap her arms around her neck. 

“Jesus. You could’ve _asked_ ,” Sam whines, nearly falling over trying to back away. Nadine doesn’t even acknowledge him, and he shakes his head. “I need another drink.”

“Sorry, Sam. Rain check?” Chloe calls to his retreating form. He waves a hand in response. “That was extra rude,” she says to Nadine.

Nadine snorts. “Being rude to a Drake is good for my morale.”

Chloe laughs, thankful that Nadine’s foul mood seems to have mostly passed.

Nadine’s hands are gentle, grasping lightly at Chloe’s hips. If it were anyone else, Chloe would say it was teasing. But this is Nadine.

They sway slowly together, so very close together, but still slightly apart. Chloe feels a sudden urge to close the gap. “I didn’t know you liked to dance.”

Why doesn’t she close the gap?

“I prefer other kinds of dancing,” Nadine replies, surveying the room, and the other couples twirling around them instead of looking directly at her. “But this is fine.”

“ _Oh?_ What kind of dancing?”

“It’s a secret.”

“Maybe you can show me sometime,” Chloe says with a suggestive grin.

Nadine chuckles. “Maybe.”

“I’m going to hold you to that, love.”

“I look forward to it.”

Despite the smiles and laughs, Nadine is still tense.

So Chloe probes. “Are you okay?”

Nadine sighs. “I needed a chance to get away, to calm down.”

“This place bring back bad memories?”

“In a way,” Nadine says. She pauses for a long moment before continuing. “Rafe once said to me that with mercenaries that loyalty was bought, not earned. It seems so obvious, but I had thought with me and my men that it would be different.”

Chloe knows immediately that it’s an olive branch, a truth, a vulnerability that Nadine has presented her with.

Old Chloe would have laughed it off and moved on. Vulnerability is not something she’s ever been good at, but something about Nadine makes it easier. They have always dealt in truths. Trading one for another.

Maybe it’s because Nadine has always been so _earnest._

“That’s why you’ve never made a good mercenary, love,” Chloe says. “You’re too good for it.” She feels Nadine’s grip tighten on her hips.

“And you think the treasure hunting business is better for me?” Nadine asks.

“Now that you have a selfish dickhead for a partner? Absolutely.”

Nadine laughs and Chloe smiles at the sound.

Nadine looks at her then. Her eyes are soft. “You look good.”

Something in Chloe’s chest clenches. “You like the dress?”

She asks this like she didn’t already know Nadine would, like she hadn’t expressly picked it hoping to blow Nadine away.

Nadine gives her a slow up and down that makes Chloe’s stomach tingle. “Ja.”

Chloe, struck speechless, is saved from responding by the Italian that blares from the speakers.

“What is it?” she asks.

“The auction is about to start,” Nadine replies. She takes a step back, her hands dropping from Chloe’s hips. 

It’s only with her gone that Chloe realizes that she had allowed her to lead.

“Let’s go see if there’s anything we want to bid on then,” Chloe says, trying to recover her equilibrium. “I’ll use you as my personal translator.”

Nadine gives her an amused look. “I can only speak five languages.”

“ _Only,”_ Chloe scoffs. “Show off.”

Nadine smiles and shrugs, offering her arm to Chloe. “Mia signora?”

Chloe takes it. Together they slip away to find the vault.

 

The heist goes off without a hitch. That’s always what Chloe dreams of being able to say anyway. Because when is anything ever easy?

She gets caught halfway through switching the painting with the fake one. A black market curator decides to impulsively check the back room despite the presence of two armed guards and several different security systems. The fact that Chloe of course got past all of that anyway—and therefore his paranoia is warranted—doesn’t diminish her bitterness at his meddling.

He says something in shrill Italian.

“Sorry, I don’t speak—“

“What are you _doing?”_ he interrupts with accented English.

She’d managed to tuck the tube with the real painting back strapped against her thigh before he could notice it so she puts on her best fake flirting smile and giggles. “This looks bad, doesn’t it? I’m so sorry—there was this nice man, Luca Rossi?—that told me he wanted to show me all of the art before it was sold. He was just here.” She makes a great show of looking around, distancing herself from the fake painting and placing herself closer to him. “Please, sir. I don’t want to get in trouble.” She bats her eyelashes.

“Chloe’s compromised.” She hears Nadine through the headset.

“Fuck. Of course she is.”

_Screw you, Samuel._

The curator blinks at her. Then he raises his hand to his mouth. “Intrusi—“

Before he can finish, her foot catches him in the throat, silencing him. He falls to the floor gasping, and another kick to the temple knocks him out cold. Urgent Italian begins filtering out of the small radio he’d raised to his lips.

Chloe stares at it, stomach sinking. “Guys, we have a problem.”

Alarms start blaring.

“Chloe get out of there!” Sam says in her ear.

She doesn’t need to be told twice. She barrels out of the only door, catching two guards by surprise. They turn to her, mouths open and guns raised. For a second, she thinks she’s going to die. Then Nadine is there. She knocks the first one out with a quick blow to the back of the head before flipping to kick the other directly across the temple. He drops to the floor, unconscious. Satisfied that they’re both down, Nadine turns to Chloe. “Are you hurt?”

“My hero,” Chloe replies.

“ _Chloe.”_

“I’m okay, I’m okay.” She holds up her hands placatingly. “They didn’t even get a chance to shoot at me.”

Nadine grabs Chloe by the arm before she can move away, giving her a quick glace over like she doesn’t believe her. When she’s finally satisfied, she takes a step back and says, “We need to leave now. They’re going to lock down the estate.”

“If we can get to the ocean—“

Chloe doesn’t get a chance to finish. Shouts from down the hall interrupt her. More guards were coming. She reaches down to grab one of the guard’s guns, and Nadine does the same.

They’re cornered in a single corridor with no doors other than the vault itself. Chloe, thinking fast, swings her gun to smash out one of the windows lining the hallway.

“Chloe—“

“Come on, Nadine!” Knowing that Nadine would follow her anywhere, she jumps out through the shattered glass. 

There’s a curse in Afrikaans before Nadine comes crashing out after her.

 

They regroup in Chloe and Nadine’s room at the bed in breakfast after Sam and—surprise, surprise—Sully fish them out of the ocean. Sam examines the painting closely over the small corner table. Chloe doesn’t know what he’s looking for, nor does she care. She’s soaked through with salt water, and wants nothing more than a hot shower.

“What’re you looking for again?” Nadine asks, looking just as miserably cold and wet as Chloe is. She’s shooting Sully angry glares, unhappy about his surprise appearance. Sully is taking the hostility in stride.

“A map,” Sam says.

“In the painting?”

“Yes.”

Chloe is about to throw in the towel when Sam suddenly lets out an “ah-hah!” of success.

“What?” Nadine asks irritably.

He points at the back of the canvas. “See this symbol? It looks just like the Newfoundland flag mixed with a personal crest. A crest which I’m willing to bet is Captain William Thompson’s.”

“Okay,” Chloe says slowly. “Let’s pretend that your _giant_ leap in logic is true. Where’s the map?

“I think it’s hidden on the back.”

“In what?” Sully asks with a short laugh. “Invisible ink?”

“Yes. We need lemon juice and heat.”

“What is this? National fucking Treasure?” Chloe asks incredulously after a pause. “Have I accidentally stolen the Declaration of Independence?”

They all stare at her. 

“Of course none of you have seen that movie,” she grumbles. What has her life turned into? “I’m leaving. I need to wash off all the salt. Let me know when you finally blow dry up a map.”

Chloe hears Sam and Sully take their leave shortly after she gets in the shower. She speeds through it, willing to sacrifice time under the nice hot water in order to spare Nadine greater discomfort.

When she exits the bathroom, she finds Nadine sitting on the edge of the bed.

“It’s all yours,” she says.

Nadine looks up and stares. Her eyes drag hotly over Chloe, gaze following the drops of water dripping from her hair down over her collarbones to the rivulet between her breasts to where they soak into the towel she has wrapped around herself.

Chloe knows the look, feels how ignites a fire in her, and thinks about what it would be like to do something about it. 

Before she can dwell on that line of thought any longer, Nadine stands and brushes past her into the bathroom with a short thanks.

Chloe stays there for a moment, feeling strangely bereft. Then she turns to towel herself off and get ready for bed.

 

**IV**

The lemon juice and heat _works,_ proving once and for all that Chloe’s life is truly reminiscent of a poorly written Nicholas Cage movie. Normally this would have cracked her up, but when Sam presents her the evidence the next morning she’s in a foul, sleep-deprived mood.

Nadine had showered for far longer than Chloe, and when she had finally come out of the bathroom she’d been fully clad in a t-shirt and shorts. There was to be no show for Chloe. 

Perhaps Nadine had thought Chloe would be asleep, but Chloe couldn’t sleep. Instead she had just pretended, keeping her eyes tightly shut until she felt Nadine’s breathing deepen and even out behind her. Her mind had kept circling around Nadine’s looks, Sam’s insinuations, her desire, and back again.

And at the end of that sleepless train of thought was—why? Why wasn’t she doing anything about it?

That question was the scariest of them all.

So as Sam excitedly waxes diatribe about the map and its coordinates, Chloe glares at nothing out of the window, and sips her coffee. It isn’t until Sully offers up his plane to get them to Costa Rica that she interjects. “Only if I can fly it.”

“Of course,” Sully says good-naturedly. “As long as you don’t mind me being your co-pilot.”

She doesn’t. From the disgruntled look Nadine gives her, however, Nadine certainly does. 

Chloe, still irritated by God knows what, ignores her.

 

Hours later they land in Jacó, Costa Rica.

Sully hooks them up with a three-bedroom beach cottage. That isn’t enough for their four-person entourage, but Chloe doesn’t really think on it until Nadine follows her into one of the bedrooms and places her bag on the bed. Chloe throws her own bag down beside it

It would be rude to force Sully to share after all.

That what she tells herself anyway when Sam gives her a look as they reconvene within the main room.

“So do we know where the treasure is?” she asks.

Sam raises an eyebrow. “Seems like someone wasn’t paying attention this morning.”

“It’s not my fault that you somehow make treasure maps boring.”

“Wow. Low blow, Chloe.”

She shrugs. She’s tired and in no mood for banter. “Want to tell me? Or am I going to have to ask someone else?”

Sam sighs. “The map puts the treasure four miles northeast of the town Monteverde.”

“What’s the terrain?”

“Deep rainforest. A little bit north of that there’s a lake.”

“Sounds like a difficult place to go carting hundreds of pounds of treasure. Especially when the coast isn’t anywhere nearby. Are you sure it’s the right place?”  
“I’m just reading the map. Here.” He hands her his phone, where he’d taken a picture of the faded ink map before it had disappeared again.

She examines it closely and realizes he’s right. “Well, I guess we don’t have much of a choice. We’ll figure it out when we get there.”

“I’ll rent us a car,” Nadine says, tapping away on her phone. “Four wheel drive, wench. The works.”

“I’m willing to pay extra for the wench,” Sully says emphatically, classic unlit cigar back in his mouth.

“How long till we get the car?” Chloe asks Nadine.

“It says it will take about three days. This place is the the only rental with off-roading vehicles available—and only one has a wench.”

Chloe sighs, and hands Sam his phone back after sending herself the picture. “Guess we’re vacationing for three days then.”

“It’ll be a right party,” Sully says with a chuckle. “But for now all I want to do is sleep.”

“Hear, hear,” Sam says wearily.

Planning done, they all slip away to their bedrooms. 

“I’m jetlagged all to hell,” Chloe groans as she moves her bag to the floor. Without further ado, she lets herself fall face first onto the bed with an undignified thump. 

“I thought we’d be used to it by now,” Nadine replies, moving her bag to a different corner of the room before returning to the foot of the bed. “Move over.”

“Chloe turns her head to look at Nadine. She blows air out in a vain attempt to move the hair covering her eyes. “No.”

“Chloe.”

“ _Make_ me.” A shiver comes over her as she says it, and she imagines what it would be like for Nadine to make her do anything.

Then she wonders why the idea doesn’t bother her like it should.

“You’re such a child,” Nadine says, but she’s laughing. If she has noticed Chloe’s sudden change of tone, she doesn’t show it. She makes a move as if she’s going to shove Chloe over, but instead she just gently shifts her enough to be able to lay down herself.

Of course she’s gentle, Chloe thinks. Of course.

On any other occasion, the entire interaction might have been enough to send her brain off on another wild, sleepless night. Not tonight though.

Sleep-deprived, jetlagged, and travel weary, Chloe only has to close her eyes for sleep to overtake her.

 

They spend the next day mostly resting and restocking up on supplies. Chloe takes a bit of time to herself to explore the house, and discovers delightedly that there’s a hot tub on the back patio.

“You didn’t even bring a bathing suit with you,” Nadine tells her when she points it out for the third time.

She just winks in reply, grinning when Nadine turns away.

As lovely as the unexpected downtime is, the unfortunate truth is that every person in the house—with the exception of Sully—has no idea how to deal with inaction.

So when night falls, and Sam suggests that they go out on the strip, Nadine is the only one who says no.

“Come on, Nadine,” Sam whines. He’s lounging in the kitchen against the countertop, already dressed to go. “Are you really always this big of a buzz kill? We have three days!”

Nadine, who is reading a guidebook on the loveseat, glares at him.

“Nadine doesn’t have to go,” Chloe says from her place on that same loveseat, her legs in Nadine’s lap. She tries to sound innocent. “She’s a big girl. She can stay here by herself.”

They all level suspicious looks at her.

“ _You’re_ going out?” Nadine asks her, brow furrowed. She places the book down. “Why?”

“I always enjoy a good time, china,” Chloe replies. “It’ll be a nice way to unwind.”

“It’s an unnecessary risk,” Nadine argues. “We didn’t escape the Estate without being detected. It’s possible that someone might have noticed the fake, and put two and two together. It’s possible they recognized us.”

“You worry too much,” Chloe laughs. “We’ll be fine. Nobody is looking for us. Besides if they are, we can handle ourselves.”

Nadine scowls.

Chloe smirks and stands. _Check and mate._ “So are we heading out?”

“We can go now if you’re ready?” Sam says, looking between her and Nadine with a baffled expression on his face. Sully just smiles and shakes his head from his seat in the corner, undoubtedly aware of what she’s doing.

“Yeah, let’s go.” She starts towards the door, counting down within her own head.

Four seconds pass before she hears Nadine exhale loudly. “Fine! I’ll come. But only so I can make sure no one gets the jump on us.”

Chloe turns to her with a smile. “You’re the best, love.”

The downtown area isn’t far away so they decide to walk. Nadine sulks, and Chloe tries cracking a few jokes before deciding that it won’t be until they get a few drinks in her that Nadine will calm down.

They reach the first couple bars on the strip, but Sam steers them past them. “I looked up a few of the more popular joints,” he tells them. “There’s a couple clubs a bit further down that are pretty highly rated.”

“Clubs?” Nadine asks, irritated. 

Chloe can practically read her mind. Tactically, a bar is a slightly safer place— smaller, quieter, and therefore harder to be caught unawares. A club is none of those things. Nadine would be completely blind.

Chloe nudges Nadine with a shoulder. “Lighten up, china. We’ll stick together.”

Nadine just gives her a withering glare before following after Sam.

Chloe goes to move after her when Sully touches her arm lightly. She stops and turns to him. 

“Now, I don’t want to be overly presumptuous. Obviously I just joined this party,” he begins, puffing on his cigar. “But I have some advice.”

Chloe tilts her head, curious. “Go on?”

“Over the course of my overly long lifetime, I’ve learned is that if you want something sometimes all you have to do is ask.”

“Stop acting like such an old man.” 

“Just food for thought,” Sully says cheerfully. “Ms. Ross seems like the type of person to prefer honesty over manipulation.”

Chloe opens her mouth to let him know that she’s fully aware of that—she knows Nadine better than him after all—when it suddenly sinks in.

Sully sees the realization, and smiles. “Let’s follow after them before they leave us behind.”

Chloe walks with him, something she refuses to acknowledge as guilt spreading through her chest.

She’d fallen back on bad habits.

The club Sam chooses is flashy, but not garish. A neon sign, declaring its name as _Baile,_ hangs against its main windowless black-painted brick wall. He disappears past the bouncer and down what looks like a set of grungy stairs, ID not even needed. Nadine doesn’t go after him. Instead, she waits on the sidewalk, a few feet away from the bouncers, arms crossed over her chest. She looks every bit as intimidating as they do. 

Chloe knows she’s waiting for her, and feels even worse. She loiters for a moment, letting Sully go ahead of her. Once he enters the club, she pulls Nadine aside.

“Is everything okay?” Nadine asks immediately, grumpiness replaced by concern.

“Yes, of course,” Chloe replies. She flounders for a moment. She’s never been good at the apology thing. She doesn’t really know how. It’s something she’s undoubtedly inherited from her father.

“Look—if you didn’t want to come—“ she begins, but Nadine cuts her off. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Nadine says, starting to turn away back to the club. “We’re here anyway.”

“No, wait.” Chloe grabs Nadine’s arm. “That’s not what I meant. What I meant is that— I’m really glad you came. It wouldn’t have been the same without you.”

It’s a shitty apology. It’s an even shittier explanation. Chloe wants to apologize for being needlessly manipulative, for taking advantage of knowing that Nadine would always have her back to avoid vulnerability. But now that she’s here, she can’t do it.

The corner of Nadine’s mouth quirks up into a small smile. “And why is that?” she asks teasingly.

Just like that, Chloe knows that she is forgiven.

“Well, you owe me a dance,” Chloe counters. It’s not the full answer. She’s sure that Nadine knows that, but Nadine laughs and accepts it anyway.

Nadine takes a step forward and bows her head, the lights from the surrounding buildings casting strange shadows that hide her eyes. Chloe inhales sharply.

Then Nadine whispers in her ear. “Let’s go dance, then.”

Fire erupts within her. Later as they’re descending down the stairs, Nadine leading the way, part of her belatedly thinks, _that isn’t fair._ A kind of warmth blossoms in her chest. The rest of her pushes it down to firmly ignore.

_That isn’t fair._

The basement that the stairs leads to is dark except for pulsing neon lights. Music blasts loudly from several speakers placed in every corner, and hundreds of crammed bodies writhe together. Sam and Sully make for the bar that’s nestled in the corner, and Chloe and Nadine push after them. They quickly take a round of shots, then another. Then another. Then one more. 

Chloe is starting to feel pleasantly buzzed, and is trying to listen to an animated discussion between Nadine and Sully, when a man approaches her from the left. He’s tall, dark, and handsome, and his smile says he knows it as he asks—yells more like in order to be heard over the music—if she’d like a drink. 

She considers. She wouldn’t mind another drink, and says so. He laughs and orders her one. She drains it with a few gulps. 

“Would you like to dance?” he asks her, leaning close so she can hear, hand curling around her hip.

She looks down at his hand.

It’s strange, she thinks. This very attractive man is making a move, and I don’t want him to touch me.

But the alcohol makes it hard to think critically about why.

“Sorry, mate,” she says. “Already have a dance partner.”

As if her words have summoned her, Nadine appears. Chloe can feel her pressed closely behind her, her warmth bleeding into her back. She doesn’t turn to see Nadine’s expression, but she can guess what it is by the fear that spreads over the handsome man’s face. 

“Sorry to bother you,” he says, and leaves.

Chloe turns, grinning at the ferocious glare marring Nadine’s features. How cute. “Thanks, love. I’m surprised you didn’t step in sooner.”

Nadine looks surprised by her sudden about face and their proximity, as if she hadn’t been the one to get close first. “Well—I didn’t know if you wanted—if you didn’t mind—“

“I much prefer you,” Chloe says.

Nadine stares at her. Chloe wonders if she’s said something wrong.

“Do you want to dance or not?” she asks when Nadine doesn’t respond.

Nadine blinks, blinks again, and then smiles a crooked smile. “I do owe you one after all.”

“Yes. You do.” Chloe says, giddy. She turns and heads to the middle of the dance floor, not waiting to see if Nadine follows.  
Nadine always follows.

She begins to dance, letting herself feel the pounding bass, rolling her hips in time with the beats. She doesn’t know the music, hasn’t kept up with the most popular hits in years, but that doesn’t matter. It only takes a few seconds before sweat starts to roll down her face and her neck, her hair sticking to her face.

Moments later, Nadine slides in front of her, an uncharacteristically open grin on her face as she dances. Chloe watches, mouth strangely dry.  
Nadine is good at dancing. Very, very good.

It’s so at odds with her rigidity in the rest of her life that Chloe wouldn’t have believed it if she wasn’t seeing it.

Her eyes rove over Nadine’s wonderfully muscled arms, torso, and legs, before swinging up to Nadine’s hands.

She wants Nadine to touch her. Why hasn’t she tried to get Nadine to touch her?

The thought floats hazily through her mind.

She steps forward and reaches out to thread her fingers through Nadine’s.

Nadine’s eyes shoot up to meet Chloe’s. Chloe can’t read them, can’t read Nadine’s face as brightly colored lights flash across it. But does she need to? She knows what she wants. 

The alcohol stops her from thinking about why she hasn’t let herself think about what she wants.

She steps forward, pushing herself up against Nadine. Nadine falters, her movements stopping, so Chloe presses closer, putting her lips to Nadine’s ear. “Dance with me,” she whispers, and feels Nadine shiver.

Nadine still doesn’t move, and her body has gone rigid. 

Drunk, Chloe is not above begging. Not to Nadine. “ _Please,_ Nadine.”

Nadine moves suddenly. The hand that Chloe is holding clutches tighter and spins her so that her back is to Nadine, her butt flush against her jeaned crotch.

And then they’re grinding.

Chloe’s momentary indignation at being manhandled disappears instantly to be replaced by a rush of desire.

Grinding with Nadine is everything Chloe has secretly imagined it would be.

Nadine mouth is at her ear, breathing raggedly into it as they move together, and it forces shivers up and down her spine. Nadine’s hands grasp at Chloe’s hips, keeping her pressed firmly up against her.

Chloe feels overwhelmed and off balance. She presses her ass back further, giving into Nadine’s demanding pace. She lets her head fall back on Nadine’s shoulder, reaching up to tangle her hands in Nadine’s hair, giving Nadine open access to her entire neck.

She feels Nadine’s lips barely brush against her throat.

She wants more. She wants so much more. She’s burning, and she feels like she’ll die if she doesn’t get more.

 

Then the gun goes off.

They drop to the ground immediately, Nadine covering Chloe’s body with her own.

People around them have stopped dancing even as the music continues, looking around uncertainly. 

Then the second shot goes off. 

They scatter, screaming.

The music cuts. Another shot rings out, sparking more screams. 

Nadine grabs Chloe’s arm, and helps her off the floor.

The sudden danger of the situation sobers Chloe somewhat, but she’s still significantly slow in both mind and body, and she curses herself and the alcohol for it.

People charge wildly up the stairs in an attempt to get out of the basement. Nadine pushes her the other way instead, towards a door with an Employees Only sign on it.

“What about Sam and Sully?” Chloe yells, struggling against the raging crowd. 

“We can find them afterwards,” Nadine shouts back.

Nadine would never run ahead, would never risk Chloe being left behind, so instead she continues to push Chloe forwards.

The Employee Only door leads to a back room and another door. They charge through it blindly into a back stairwell. Seconds later, they’re on the street in a back alley.

“We need to get Sam and Sully,” Chloe says, pulling her phone out to call them.

“We need to find cover,” Nadine says.

Chloe ignores her and hits the call button. It rings three times before it’s cut short. She curses and tries Sully, and gets the same response. 

Damn Sam. Damn him for not letting her have his location on her phone.

“Chloe _,_ ” Nadine says, body and voice tense. “We need to _go._ Text them and tell them to meet us at the house. We’ll get guns and come after them if they don’t reply.”

Despite the alcohol hazing her mind, Chloe knows Nadine’s right. Her gut still wrenches anyway when she thinks of leaving the other two behind. Chloe is many things—selfish, manipulative, dishonest—but she has never been the type to abandon a friend in danger. “Okay.”

They take off down the alley, away from the front entrance of the club. Chloe takes point, and Nadine takes rear.

The other street is empty, and they run down it, ducking into alleys intermittently to make sure they aren’t being followed.

The attack could have been random, Chloe tells herself. Considering their line of work, however, this is incredibly unlikely.

They make it back to the house in more time than it would’ve taken to simply walk. It isn’t like Chloe to be overly cautious, agreeing with Nadine’s request to take breaks to survey for danger, but the alcohol makes her feel out of control, and therefore nervous.

The living room light is on like they had left it. No other lights are. They wait for a few minutes in the darkness, looking for any sign of movement. Eventually they slip in through the back door, and towards their room. They’d stashed their guns there earlier. Chloe immediately feels better with her pistol holstered, even though the alcohol she’s consumed will make her aiming dubious at best. 

She checks her phone. “They haven’t replied. There’s also nothing on the local news about any attacks.”

Nadine sighs, and rubs at the bridge of her nose. “We should wait.”

“We can’t wait. We have to go after them,” Chloe counters. “You know we do.”

“You’re drunk—“

“ _Nadine.”_

Nadine sighs again. “Ja. We do.” She cocks her pistol and checks her ammo one last time. “Okay, let’s go.”

They make it five steps out the front door when the barrel of a pistol swings up out of the darkness to press against Chloe’s head. The cold metal of the weapon is heavy against her temple.

“Drop the guns.”

Nadine lets out a curse, but immediately throws away her gun. Chloe slowly reaches back to do the same.

The owner of the pistol seemingly melts out of the darkness, dressed entirely in black. 

“Hello, Miss Frazer,” he says, voice muffled by the black mask covering his face. “Miss Ross. Sorry we had to meet under these circumstances.”

Hands grab her arms, forcing them to her side, and a heavy, sweet-smelling cloth covers her mouth. She hears Nadine yell out her name from behind her.

Then the world goes black.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story on ao3, and my first story in about 5 years? So go easy on me. 
> 
> I've never written in present tense before, so this was a fun experiment in seeing if I could do it. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
